Tryouts

Soccer tryouts (or player evaluations) can be extremely stressful for players, parents, coaches and organizations especially for young players. It is an imperfect process and mistakes can be made. Increasingly, town and club organizations are turning to Massachusetts Youth Soccer for assistance in conducting their tryouts. Through a close collaboration with the town or club organization, Massachusetts Youth Soccer Staff Coaches will help run professional, well-organized and entirely objective tryouts.

The Goal

Our goal is to help organizations find those players who can have a positive impact during game situations and to place every player on a team with other players of similar individual abilities. The proper placement of players is critical to creating a positive soccer environment for every player. Technically proficient players who cannot perform in traffic or when under pressure should not be placed on top teams. In contrast, some players whose technical skills may not be as advanced as others, but whose athletic skills and understanding of the game is advanced, should be challenged in an optimal environment to develop technical skills and to help the team.

The Process

A Massachusetts Youth Soccer Staff Coach will meet prior to the tryout date with the person responsible for the organization's tryouts. The Staff Coach will review the tryout process; provide information on how to evaluate players in a tryout environment, what to look for when evaluating players, and how to use the evaluation material gained to form teams will all be discussed. End-of-the-season evaluation from coaches during the prior year should be included in this process. The ratio of the organization's evaluators to players should be 1:12, with one Massachusetts Youth Soccer Staff Coach to a maximum of 30 players.

The organization will be responsible for providing the facility and for the registration of all players. Each player should be assigned a number (e.g. numbered pinnies) to be worn by the players so that the number is visible to make identification of individual players during tryouts more efficient.

Massachusetts Youth Soccer Staff Coaches will run the whole tryout process, including placing players in groups to play. Players will play small sided games for the entire tryout. Depending on the age group and number of players and field space, the tryout will start with 3v3/4v4 games, move to 6v6/7v7 and get to 9v9/11v11, time permitting. The organization's coaches and Massachusetts Youth Soccer Coaches will evaluate each player in each small sided game. Goalkeepers will be evaluated on the field and in the goal within the small sided games.

Evaluations in each small sided game will be made on a 4-point scale.

Scale: 4=Excels, 3=Above Average, 2=Below Average, 1=Deficient

Within a week after the conclusion of the tryouts, Massachusetts Youth Soccer will provide the organization with a solid 1-4 score for all the tryout players for each age and gender group.